Globally, approximately 150 million users choose to use third-party modified WhatsApp applications. Among them, GB WhatsApp and FM WhatsApp are the two variants with the highest market share, collectively accounting for about 60% of the modified user group. According to a 2023 survey of 5,000 users, GB WhatsApp is highly favored for its over 1,000 customizable themes and font options, with a user satisfaction rate of 85%, while FM WhatsApp is known for its message delivery success rate as high as 99.9%. Its unique message recall time window has been extended to 48 hours, which is 144 times that of the official application. A vivid example is that in 2022, an Indian user successfully avoided the pressure of a business negotiation by using the “Read” hidden feature of FM WhatsApp, highlighting the appeal of its privacy-enhanced design.
From a technical architecture perspective, the installation package size of GB WhatsApp is typically 55MB, which is approximately 5% larger than the 52MB of FM WhatsApp. This is due to its integration of more visualization plugins, but it also leads to an average slower startup speed of 0.5 seconds on older Android devices. In its 2024 report, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky pointed out that 30 potential security vulnerabilities were discovered in the codebase of GB WhatsApp, with a 20% higher probability of data leakage than the official application. Although FM WhatsApp had 25 vulnerabilities, the non-standard modification of its encryption protocol increased the risk of data interception by 15%. For instance, in a cyber attack targeting a modified application that occurred in Brazil in 2023, the proportion of users of GB WhatsApp affected was as high as 60%, far exceeding the 25% of FM WhatsApp users.
In terms of functional differences, FM WhatsApp allows users to send up to 90 pictures at a time, which is three times the 30-picture limit of GB WhatsApp. Moreover, its video file size limit is 700MB, which is 40% higher than the latter’s 500MB. However, GB WhatsApp outperforms its automation features. Its “Auto-reply” function has a response accuracy rate of up to 98% and supports setting up 100 different replies based on keywords. This characteristic has led to a 30% adoption rate among small merchants. A user behavior study shows that users over 35 years old prefer the simple operation process of FM WhatsApp, and their task completion efficiency is 15% faster than that of GB WhatsApp. Meanwhile, young users under 25 years old have become loyal fans of GB WhatsApp because its interface is 50% more personalized.
Updates and compliance have become key points of divergence. The version update frequency of GB WhatsApp is 1.2 times per quarter, lagging behind FM WhatsApp’s 1.5 times per quarter, resulting in a 10% higher user complaint rate regarding compatibility issues. At the risk level, in 2023, WhatsApp officially banned a large number of accounts that violated regulations. Among them, the account ban rate for GB WhatsApp users reached 7%, while for FM WhatsApp users it was 5%. The average cost for some users to migrate back to the official application was a 50-yuan metadata recovery fee. The final choice depends on the user’s priority. If ultimate personalization is pursued and a higher risk can be taken, GB WhatsApp offers more possibilities. However, if stability and privacy control are valued, FM WhatsApp has a failure interval of up to 1,000 hours, which might be a more stable solution.